Benno Weisberg
Associate
Benno Weisberg is an associate with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the firm's Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice. Mr. Weisberg works on a variety of litigation matters, representing clients in a number of industries, including health care, financial services, and retail. Representative recent matters include:- Successfully opposing interlocutory challenges to discovery orders brought in the Texas and Michigan Courts of Appeals, and the Texas Supreme Court
- Obtaining the dismissal of a federal lawsuit brought by a client's former sales agent seeking unpaid sales commissions
- Successfully briefing and arguing the dismissal of a breach of contract claim brought by a client's former employee
Mr. Weisberg has developed particular experience in advising clients on protecting trade secret and other sensitive business information that is potentially subject to release under federal and state Freedom of Information (FOIA) laws, data reporting statutes, civil discovery requests, subpoenas, and inter-government agency information requests. He has successfully litigated and negotiated the non-release of clients' information in the possession of numerous federal, state and local government entities in receipt of FOIA requests in dozens of jurisdictions. In early 2010, he contributed an article on changes to the Illinois FOIA to the firm's trade secret/non-compete blog. Mr. Weisberg maintains an active pro bono practice. In 2009, he briefed and argued the appeal of his client's conviction and sentence on federal weapon and drug charges before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and received specific recognition for his "commendable and zealous advocacy" in the Court's opinion. Elsewhere, his pro bono work has included seeking asylum for an Iranian political dissident, assisting a group of hip-hop artists in a dispute with their former manager, authoring and filing an amicus brief—on behalf of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions—advocating for greater funding for private lawyers handling pro bono criminal matters, and advising the former members of a nonprofit organization serving Chicago-area day laborers in a dispute over control of the organization. Mr. Weisberg received his bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1997, his master's degree from Boston University in 2000 and his law degree from Northwestern University Law School in 2006. During law school he served as the coordinating comment editor for the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Prior to law school, Mr. Weisberg worked in the acquisitions department of Harvard University Press. Mr. Weisberg is the author of the comment, "When Punishing Innocent Conduct Violates the Eighth Amendment: Applying the Robinson Doctrine to Homelessness and Other Crimes'," 96 Journal Criminal Law & Criminology 329 (2005).
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